Someone Worth Talking To
by Halunygin
Summary: Severus is dragged to a party against his will by his best friend, and then the redhead ditches him. Internal monologue of bitterness ensues, until a cute boy shows up. Muggle AU, College AU


**A/N: I feel like this is weird and just like out of character for Severus, but I chalk it up to this is a muggle college AU. Also I mentioned Remus because I wanted him to make an appearance, but I was coming down to the wire on this, so maybe I'll make a part 2?**

 **This is my entry for the Phobias Competition. My phobia was Sociophobia: the fear of people and/or social situations.**

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Severus ducked out of the way of yet another drunk individual. Why did he come to this stupid mixer again? Oh, yeah, Remus had mentioned it to Lily when she was over, and once the redhead put her mind to something, there was no stopping her. At least his roommate had realized his error and tried to tell Lily how big and crazy the party was going to be. The poor guy had no idea he was only fueling Lily more.

On that note, Severus wondered why Remus would want to be here at all. From the few weeks they had been roommates, Remus seemed to be as quiet and scholarly as him, hardly leaving their room, except for sustenance and the library. Regardless, he had lost Lily in the throng, so he scanned the crowd for his fellow introvert from the safety of the drinks table.

"So, what's your major?" a voice breathed flirtily into his ear, and he jumped. A boy with shaggy black hair and grey eyes grinned at him, beer sloshing in his cup.

"Sober and not interested," Severus replied, narrowing his eyes. The boy wasn't deterred.

"You look pretty smart, so I'm going to guess a science. Hmm, biology?"

Severus crossed his arms. "Chemistry, and no, we don't have any."

The boy laughed. "That's amateur, wouldn't work unless the person was seriously inebriated."

"Which I am not, so you can go," Severus said, turning his back to the boy and resuming his search for Remus and Lily. He was starting to feel a weight on his chest, the amount of people in close proximity to him seemed to move closer and closer.

He was pulled from his panicky line of thoughts by a cup being shoved in front of him. Severus looked up at the boy, who inclined the cup again.

"It's just punch, don't worry."

Severus accepted it with shaking hands. "Does the word no mean nothing to you?" he inquired dryly, taking a sip.

The boy raised his hands in defense. "Sorry, you just looked like you were about to pass out there. Don't like parties, huh?"

Severus scoffed. "Not at all, but I was pulled here against my will by my friend, and then she had the audacity to leave me."

"Oh, that's not cool," the boy said sympathetically. "I'd offer to drive you home, but-" he lifted his cup and shrugged.

Severus shook his head. "I wouldn't let you anyway. I don't even know your name."

To that, the boy stuck his hand out. "Sirius Black."

Severus shook it tentatively and raised an eyebrow. "Odd name. Severus Snape."

"Yours too, and if you like my name, you should hear my number," Sirius added with a wink. Severus dropped the other one's hand and rolled his eyes.

"Alright, that's the last one, I've gotten it out of my system, I swear."

"For some reason, I have trouble believing that," Severus said with his arms crossed, but there was a smirk threatening to emerge from his mouth. It's not like there were lines of people who flirted with him, and this guy was pretty cute, though he'd never admit that out loud except in the dark corners of the community showers. "Just so we're on equal footing, what's your major?"

Sirius made a popping sound with his mouth and grinned cheekily. "I guessed for you, now you have to guess for me."

Severus decided playing along with Sirius was preferable than drowning in a crowd of guttered jocks and tipsy sorority girls.

"Oh, I don't know. You're pretty outgoing, at least you seem to be, so I'll go with something artsy. Theatre?"

Sirius shook his head. "Nah, I'm not gay enough for theatre, but I am thinking of minoring in it."

Severus couldn't help but snort at that. "I didn't know that was a prerequisite."

"They've been lenient in the past, but now they're really cracking down on that kind of thing," Sirius replied with a straight face that made Severus choke on his punch. Sirius seemed to take that as a win, because his smile increased as he continued.

"No, I'm actually a criminal justice major, law school just beyond the horizon, hopefully." He added, with amusement at Severus's look of shock, "I do have a brain beneath my devilishly good looks."

Severus blinked and covered his mouth. "Sorry, it's just - I've just met so many pretty people coasting on just that, and I just assumed you were the same."

"So what you mean is that you think I'm pretty," Sirius said, grinning triumphantly. Severus blushed furiously.

"I didn't say that-"

"But you implied it," the other boy cut across with a smirk. "You think I'm pretty, you are-" He popped his mouth again. "-attracted to me," he finished in a whisper.

Sirius's smugness was almost palpable, and Severus fought down the blush trying to reappear.

"Maybe I am, but so what? You're good-looking and I'm human."

"So if I asked you out, you'd say yes?" There was a slight waver cutting through the confidence of his words, as if he was truly worried Severus would say no. Said boy didn't notice this, because he was too preoccupied with his erratically beating heart counteracting with the cynicism in his head, because this guy couldn't possibly like someone as awkward and antisocial as him.

"You don't want to date me," Severus shook his head, a self-deprecating grimace plastered onto his face. Sirius cocked his head.

"I really do, actually. You're smart and funny, and you look like you could take someone down just with the cut of your jibe."

"Guys like you don't go for guys like me," Severus started with a sigh, and Sirius cut him off.

"We're not in highschool anymore, the days of cliques, for the most part, are behind us. Besides," he added, leaning in close to Severus's face. "I've never been one to do what other people tell me."

"I can tell," Severus remarked dryly, but he gulped. Sirius's mouth was dangerously close to his. He could smell the alcohol on his breath, and normally something like that would disgust him, but at the current juncture, he didn't care.

"But if you really don't want to go out with me, I'd understand," Sirius continued, and there was that waver again.

"Okay." The word was out of his mouth before he could process it, but he didn't feel the need to take it back.

Sirius beamed, and with a sudden shyness, asked, "if I kissed you, would that be too much?", and Severus's heart fluttered in a very queer fashion as his now speechless with surprise brain shook his head no. Sirius put his arm around his waist, and pushed back Severus's bangs.

"Sev? Severus, where are you?"

Lily's frantic voice cut through the crowd of party-goers, and Severus cursed the redhead as he bit his lip and looked at Sirius apologetically.

"That's my friend Lily. She sounds worried, I think I better go."

Sirius nodded and let go of him sheepishly. "Oh, yeah, I guess. So I'll see you around campus?"

"Yeah, definitely," Severus replied distractedly as he started to walk away. Kissing Sirius right then probably wasn't the best idea anyway, right? He had _just_ asked him out, and there was a system and protocol for this sort of thing. But then Severus turned around and threw protocol out the window, grabbing Sirius by the front of his shirt and kissing him, quite badly, in retrospect.

"I forgot to give you my number," he whispered when they broke apart, and Sirius grinned.

"Severus Snape!"

"I'll call you," Sirius said, taking his cell phone back. Severus put his thumbs in his jeans pockets and loftily replied, "You better. I won't be waiting by the phone or anything."

Sirius's laugh was still echoing in his ears when Lily found him by the doors.

"Oh, there you are. Listen, I'm so sorry I dragged you here and left you on your own, I know big parties make you uncomfortable. And some frat guy tried to proposition me, so I'm down to go if you are."

"Yeah, that's fine," Severus said airily. When they got to Lily's car, he sighed.

"Parties aren't that bad, you know."

The redhead gave him an odd look as sat down.

"You, a natural born introvert and misanthrope, don't think parties are that bad? What's up with you?"

Severus's phone beeped and he looked down at it and grinned. He looked back up at Lily and shook his head.

"I'll tell you later. All I'm saying is that parties can be tolerable. If you find someone worth talking to."


End file.
